"Wait a minute!" called Luke and hurried over to where Lorelai had just met the nurse.
"Can I come with her?" he asked.
She looked doubtful.
"Luke, you don't need to," Lorelai assured him.
"I want to," he said.
"No you don't," smiled Lorelai.
"No, I don't," he agreed, "But I do. I want to." He looked at her meaningfully.
They both turned back to the nurse then, the question in their eyes.
"Well, Dr.Sherman usually doesn't allow other people in during testing..."
"In case something goes wrong?" asked Lorelai knowingly.
Luke's eyes widened at that.
"It just isn't his policy," said the nurse primly.
"I'm coming," said Luke decidedly.
Lorelai looked at him and then back at the nurse and made a decision. She flashed one of her signature smiles, "You know, I really understand the whole policy thing," she glanced at the woman's badge, "...Sheila, but maybe you could talk to the doctor?" she upped the wattage a little. "I can guarantee you that if this guy is left here in the waiting room, he'll just make a nuisance of himself asking you for updates every three minutes," she leaned in a little, "You know how awful men can be, I'm sure they bother you all the time."
The nurse smiled a little at that and weakened, looking at Lorelai, "Well... he is a family member, right?"
Oops.
"I'm her fiancee," said Luke without missing a beat. Lorelai looked at him sideways at that.
Sheila melted a bit more, "Oh, it's so nice to see a supportive man these days," she sighed.
Luke adopted a noble mein. "Well, I'm trying."
Lorelai almost laughed. Almost.
"Come on back. I'll fix it for you."
"Thank you," said Luke with slightly exaggerated solemnity.
He grabbed Lorelai's hand then as she gave a quick wave to a smiling Rory. Then they followed the nurse through the open door and down a hall. She stole a look at him then. He looked back and winked a triumphant wink at her.
She had to smile at that.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"...elephant..." she mumbled.
"Lorelai."
"...coffee...."
"Lorelai."
"...Hostess fruit pies..."
"Lorelai!"
She opened her eyes. She could feel that she was still on the tilt table. Only now the restraints were gone and she was prone once more. She looked at the doctor to one side of her and Luke on the other. Then down at the back of her hand where the nurse was withdrawing the IV.
"Ouch! What happened?"
"You threw up and then fainted after seventeen minutes, at seventy degrees," the doctor informed her as he looked down at the chart.
"Hmmm...Pretty sexy of me," she mumbled. "So what does that mean?"
"It means that your heart did not stop, which is good. It also means that we probably need to adjust your medication a little since you did faint. Once you've been on it for awhile, we will need to test you again. Our goal is to keep your heart rate and blood pressure at a level where you remain conscious. Dr. Steiner will be by in awhile to discuss it with you."
"Okay," she nodded.
"And Lorelai," the doctor leaned in.
"Yes?"
"Next time don't drink coffee before the test."
"Right."
The nurse and doctor left her to rest awhile then to go talk to her parents and Rory.
She looked over at Luke. He looked a little green.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"Okay," she said doubtfully.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
They were all in the recovery room now, waiting for Dr. Steiner.
"Come on dad, I've told my elephant jokes, Mom related a witty anecdote about Molly Pitcher, Luke refuses to say anything but it's just funny to look at his face when we tease him about it, so that's his contribution... You've got to tell a joke, too," she demanded.
"Lorelai, I don't tell jokes."
"You must know one... not even a knock-knock?" she whined from her bed.
"It seems to me that Rory hasn't made a contribution to your insatiable need for entertainment," Richard evaded.
It worked. All eyes were on Rory now.
"Got anything funny to relate from Yale, Rory? I mean other than the poor stuffed bulldog?" asked Lorelai.
"The only thing I can think of is a bit from Dorothy Parker and her time at the Algonquin round table..." said Rory dubiously.
"Goody!" clapped Lorelai.
"But it's not really a joke."
"That's all right, Rory," comforted Richard, "Something literary would be refreshing after the elephant who drank lime juice," he assured her.
"Tomato juice," said Lorelai indignantly.
"All right, all right, just to keep the peace then..." Rory interceded. They all waited. "It seems that Dorothy Parker and her various literary and inebriate cronies were playing a word game..." she began.
They all nodded.
"They were throwing out words to each other, then making up funny definitions or word plays with the words tossed out."
"Right," said Lorelai in eager anticipation.
"So someone, maybe Benchley, I don't know who, says 'Horticulture' and they were all just silent and stumped."
"Yes, yes..."
"Until suddenly Dorothy Parker blurts out: 'Horticulture: You can lead a Whore-to-Culture, but you can't make her Think!'" said Rory, her punch line delivered, she lowered her head.
"Rory!" gasped Emily somewhat in shock and then they all dissolved into laughter.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"...So I would say, return to your life as normally as possible. Be aware that you may very well have periods where you are dizzy or fatigued and need to rest. So pace yourself, don't push it. We'll see how you do on the meds and then in a month, I want you to come back in for another test," finished up the doctor.
Lorelai sighed, "So, no magic cure?"
"I'm afraid not," said Dr. Steiner sympathetically. "You will have times when you are unwell and this does lead to depression in some. It can be hard to let go of a little independence, but in the grand scheme of things, we can manage this. With medication you should not faint or experience cardiac arrest."
Lorelai nodded and looked down, "I just hoped..."
The doctor nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I wish I could clear it all up with an artfully applied bandaid or miracle drug like a TV show, but I can't. Of course, I also wish I was one of those TV doctors who is seven feet tall, blonde, and wears Manolos to work in the hospital, but that's not going to happen either."
"Bummer," nodded Lorelai in understanding. "So doc," she added after a moment, "Know any good jokes?"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::
Wow.
She looked down at him now as he rolled her up above. This was the first time they had really made love. They'd had several encounters of hot- college-athletic-type sex, but this was slow and in the evening light, with their eyes wide open.
They had come home from the hospital, and Rory had gone off to the evening shift at the diner with Lane. Once she was gone, Lorelai led Luke quietly upstairs.
"Lorelai, we don't need to..." he'd said.
"I want to, Luke."
"You've been through the mill today."
"You're just the medicine I need." she'd said.
So they'd taken their time undressing one another gently. Luke had lifted her hand then and tenderly kissed the bruises where the IV had been, murmuring private words, stroking all the while. It was so much more this way. This slow, open-eyed way. This way that wasn't about youth and hormones, but about a terrifyingly important connection. A joining. The surety that this was it. There would never be another one for either, not this way. Not because there couldn't be, but because a silent mutual decision had been made.
And here she was gloriously above him. That's how he made her feel anyway.
She saw him watch her, taking in the arch of her back.
He slipped his hand between them then and said her name.
She caught her breath and moaned, moving more rapidly now, keeping her eyes locked with his, even when he rolled her back over...
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"That was great!" he flashed a rare smile at her. She lifted her brows in amusement.
"Yeah, that's kind of a dorky thing to say, isn't it?" he flushed.
She laughed. "Yeah, it was a little 'I can't believe she's letting me do this' adolescent guy kind of thing."
"Sorry," he smiled.
"Don't be, it was great. You're great."
"So are you. But that was..." he broke off.
"I think they call it 'making love,'" she said and lay her head on his chest to listen to his heart.
"I'd never... I'd never really thought about there being a difference before..."
"Me either," she sighed.
They lay quietly thinking about the enormity of the thing between them, of beginnings where no endings were planned, or assumed, and how thinking about it all, in the permanent tense was pretty damn big.
"You okay?" he asked into her hair later.
"I am very okay," she whispered. "Just tired."
He nodded.
"How about you?" she asked.
"I am feeling dangerously close to the 'whole package' here," he admitted.
"Oh right, I remember we've talked about that. The whole package. Huh. Scary."
"Yep."
"But great," she snuggled deeper in his arms, breathing him in.
"Yep again," he paused a moment, "If only..."
Lorelai lifted her eyes to meet his, "Luke, you heard what the doctor said: No magic cures. This is the way I am now."
He nodded and swallowed. "I hate it... It makes me... sad..."
"I know. Me too. But I think we can handle it. It's not who I am. We are so lucky, you know. We have so much. I don't want to be depressed about it. I want to live my life and watch TV and go to my beautiful Inn, and eat hamburgers, and have sex..."
"Nice order of priorities you have there," he remarked drily.
She laughed. "Hey, you knew before coming in..."
He nodded, "God help me but I did."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Much later, after Luke left and Rory had come up to check on her and tell her good night, and she'd been asleep awhile was when she had the dream.
It was five when she looked at the clock. She sat up in bed and hugged her knees close, trying to remember it all...
They had all been there, every last one of them, she knew that, even Richard and Emily. Kirk and little Davey too—all of them. And they had been at the Inn, walking the maze and laughing.. And then somehow she had swooped home to her room and she was watching Luke folding towels and Rory had been there and said she wanted to pick the name and what about Willa if it were a girl?—for Luke's mother's maiden name Williams, and for Willa Cather, her favorite writer... And Lorelai had said if Gwyneth Paltrow could pick Apple, then she could pick Tangerine or better yet, Chocolate, or maybe Brownie... And then she and Luke were at the diner then, she at the counter and he pouring coffee, and she knew somehow that Rory was at Yale...
And that was it.
That was the dream. Not much but it had felt good. It had been a relief. No feeling of missing pieces or being scared. Just being together and coffee. And being happy.
She hugged her knees and sighed again and wondered if it was just a little too early to call Luke.